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Hack ShowcaseThe spotlight of some of our favourite hacks. Consider this our Seal of Quality™.

Polished Crystal is, as the title says, Crystal version but improved. I've had vague plans to make a Pokémon game for years, starting with a folder full of map drawings in middle school, but Mateo's Red++ inspired me to make this one, and I hope to do for Gen 2 what he's doing for Gen 1.

The storyline is the same—you start in New Bark Town, beat the Johto gyms and the Elite Four, then move on to Kanto and fight Red. However, I've added new Pokémon, new moves, new mechanics, new maps, new events, new trainers, new items, new bugs, and Red is not even the end of the game. I've also moderately increased the difficulty, although this probably needs tuning.

Wait, new bugs? I mean fixed bugs. Probably there are new bugs too, so I'd like you to help find them.

Features

This isn't a complete list, just a summary of the notable ones.

Pokémon:

The entire Pokédex of 253 Pokémon can be caught in one game. Some Pokémon, like Houndour, Murkrow, and Misdreavus, are available at sensible locations in Johto without having to wait for Kanto.

Shiny Pokémon now have an odd Attack DV, 2, 3, 7, or 11 Defense, 5 or 13 Speed, and a perfect 15 Special; so 1 in 1,024 Pokémon is shiny.

Type-enhancing items raise by 20%, not 10%.

Many battle mechanics have been updated to Gen VI, but not all. (For example, Waterfall has a 20% flinch chance, but sound-based moves don't bypass Substitute. Yet.)

Wild Pokémon have more common held items (50% chance for a common one and 5% for a rare one). Giving an Amulet Coin to your lead Pokémon increases this to 60% and 10%.

Overworld mechanics:

Hold B to use Running Shoes, or turn on the Option to always use them.

Unlimited-use TMs.

Continuous Repel system.

Cure poison when it reaches 1 HP outside a battle.

Eggs hatch at level 1.

Trees randomly give 1, 2, or 3 Berries.

Surf at Bicycle/Running Shoes speed.

Maximum $9,999,999 money and 50,000 coins.

Maximum 30 items and 16 Balls in your bag pocket.

Bill calls to switch boxes when one is full.

Nuzlocke mode:

Available in the Option menu at any time.

A fainted Pokémon can't be revived, by items, Pokémon Centers, or events. The only exception is your first rival battle, when you just have your starter.

You can only catch the first Pokémon you encounter in a new location. "Location" is defined with the Town Map mechanics, so Sprout Tower is separate from Violet City, but multiple floors of Union Cave or multiple sections of the Safari Zone count as one location. And nothing is counted until you receive your first five Poké Balls.

Every Pokémon gets a nickname, no asking whether you want to or not. Of course, you can cancel out to give the default name.

The dupes clause is in effect. If you've caught a Pidgey and encounter one on a new route, it won't count unless you catch it.

The shiny clause is also in effect. Shinies can always be caught.

Gift Pokémon do not count as encounters. Static encounters like Sudowoodo, Snorlax, and Suicune do.

Nidorina and Nidoqueen can breed, and will produce eggs of either Nidoran gender.

Fly to the Rock Tunnel/Power Plant Pokémon Center.

The Mineral Badge, not Storm Badge, makes Pokémon up to L70 obey, like in HG/SS.

The Zephyr Badge lets you use traded Pokémon up to level 20, like in HG/SS.

Flash does not require the Zephyr Badge.

Fishing works 75% of the time, not 50%.

Always show numbers in Pokédex, even in Johto order.

All this and I haven't even mentioned some of my favorite additions. Don't want to spoil everything. (I mean, you can read the source code if you're that curious.)

Screenshots

48 screenshots inside spoiler.

Spoiler:

Bugs

Nuzlocke mode sometimes turns on by itself.

TMs can restore PP.

Some NPC trainers incorrectly use X Spcl. Atk.

Avalanche's power doesn't double if the user is hit first.

Download Patches

The most recent version is 2.2.0 as of September 20, 2016.

There are two patches, regular and "faithful". The faithful patch does not change any Pokémon types or base stats, or any move attributes. This will be more familiar, but can have some odd consequences, like a Ghost trainer using a Ninetales that lacks STAB on its Shadow Ball.

Patches should be applied to a Pokémon Crystal (UE) (1.0) ROM. The one I used has the MD5 hash 9f2922b235a5eeb78d65594e82ef5dde if you need to make sure your copy is correct.

FroggestSpirit, Pum, Pigu, Mmmmmm, and huderlem for devamping some great music.

jpmac26 for editing the Pokémon Center signs.

Twilir, Danny-E, Poketto, Nic7C5, BettyNewbie, and Fo0xerz for various sprites.

Satoshi Tajiri, Game Freak, and Nintendo for creating Pokémon Crystal in the first place.

Requests

This is technically a complete game. You can catch all the Pokémon, beat all the trainers, and I'm pretty sure it won't crash. However, I do keep updating it, so please report any bugs or missing features. There are quite a few things I'd like to eventually add: custom animations for new moves, more modern battle mechanics, and even new activities like the Safari game or Honey trees. So I'd appreciate people paying attention to their experience as they play, letting me know what works and what doesn't. Thanks for your time!

Last edited by Alice; 3rd March 2018 at 02:06 AM.
Reason: Update to 2.2.0

Version 2.0.0 of Pokémon Polished Crystal is finally finished! It's a major version update because there have been a lot of new additions. New Pokémon (Electivire, Magmortar, and Rhyperior), new moves (Hurricane, Hail, Aerial Ace, Energy Ball, and more), maps, characters, events… not to mention many bug fixes and tweaks in response to everyone's feedback.

If you want to do a Nuzlocke run, please check out Nuzlocke mode in the Option menu!

This update is not compatible with save files from 1.1.2 or earlier versions. However, I tried to get all the save-breaking features out of the way. So when 2.1.0 comes out, you should be able to use your 2.0.0 save file. (I expect 2.0.1 to come out soon with minor bugfixes for whatever y'all find while testing this out.)

Patches:

There are two patches, regular and "faithful". The faithful patch does not change any Pokémon types or base stats, or any move attributes. This will be more familiar, but can have some odd consequences, like a Ghost trainer using a Ninetales that lacks STAB on its Shadow Ball.

Patches should be applied to a Pokémon Crystal (UE) (1.0) ROM. The one I used has the MD5 hash 9f2922b235a5eeb78d65594e82ef5dde if you need to make sure your copy is correct.

What!? You mean I have to start over!? I hate it when in-progress ROM hacks do that. Great game so far though. I like how you added color-coded PokeBalls for the Starter Pokemon. I have a recommendation though. Is there any way you can fix the screwed-up catch rate formula that was in the original game. The one that made Moon Balls only work better on Pokemon that evolved using a Burn Heal, Love Balls work on Pokemon of the same species AND gender of your current Pokemon, and the Fast Ball only work on the first three Pokemon in the internal table of Pokemon that could flee? That would be nice. Keep up the good work.

Update 2.0.1 is officially out! There were pretty many bugs in 2.0.0, including multiple crashes and some that made progressing almost impossible. They've all been fixed. The only major bug remaining is that Nuzlocke mode sometimes turns itself on; I might release a 2.0.2 update if it gets fixed later.

2.0.1 is compatible with 2.0.0 save files, so just replace the ROM and you should be all set.

Patches:

There are two patches, regular and "faithful". The faithful patch does not change any Pokémon types or base stats, or any move attributes. This will be more familiar, but can have some odd consequences, like a Ghost trainer using a Ninetales that lacks STAB on its Shadow Ball.

Patches should be applied to a Pokémon Crystal (UE) (1.0) ROM. The one I used has the MD5 hash 9f2922b235a5eeb78d65594e82ef5dde if you need to make sure your copy is correct.

Oh. I didn't see that on the list of Features. By the way, I noticed that there might be two minor errors with uncapitalizing everything. The 'g' in PokeGear is lowercase when it should be uppercase and there's a space in PokeBall. Also, I noticed that Lyra's battle sprite has a lot of red in it, but that might be a limitation of the Game Boy Color's hardware. Keep up the good work. There's not too many people out there who make ROM hacks of Pokemon Crystal Version.

I noticed another small bug that might be tied to the Nuzlocked Mode. I have the Faithful Patch and I don't have Nuzlocke Mode on (I checked to see if it turned itself on too). I noticed that every time I make a move in a battle, my emulator's output indicates it wrote to the save file. I am using the latest version of VBA-M on Windows 10. I love the game so far.

Version 2.1.0 is released! It fixes some important bugs and issues, like wild Pokémon stealing your held items with Thief or knocked-out legendary Pokémon failing to respawn. It also adds new features, including the Route 35 Coast connecting Goldenrod and Olivine City, and a fourth Pokémon stats page (ported from TPP Anniversary Crystal by FredrIQ).

This update is compatible with save files from 2.0.0 and 2.0.1! Just patch a fresh Crystal ROM to 2.1.0 and use it with your old save file.